Phoenix

by Jeff Stone

  “No,” Ryan replied. “My uncle needed to be stopped. I had no idea how crazy he was until I watched him shoot Lin Tan and Bjorn.”

  “You saw that?” Hú Dié asked. “How?”

  “I hacked the security camera system. My Internet connection is on the same feed.”

  “But Phoenix said you were asleep.”

  “I was, until you guys woke me without knowing it. There is a silent alarm on the door to my uncle’s lab that alerts his home computer, as well as his cell phone. I hacked that, too, and set an alarm of my own to wake me if you guys broke in there. I figured you would at least try. I would have done the same thing.”

  “I didn’t know you were a hacker,” I said.

  “There is a lot you don’t know about me.”

  I nodded. “I guess you’re right. Maybe I’ll get a chance to find out once we get back home? I’m really sorry Jake and I never invited you over to hang out. The truth is, I’ve always been embarrassed about how small my house is. No one besides Jake has ever seen it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. There is something else I should probably tell you, too. After your dad passed away, Jake and I didn’t know what to say to you anymore, so we said nothing. Stupid, I know. I apologize.”

  “Thanks for telling me,” Ryan said. “I appreciate it.”

  “Thanks for listening,” I replied. “Things are going to change between us, I promise. That is, if you still want to be my friend.”

  Ryan smiled. “I’d like that.”

  “Maybe we could do some training rides together,” I offered.

  Ryan’s smile faded. “I don’t think so.”

  “Why not?”

  “The security cameras have audio. I heard my uncle say that I’ll never be a great rider. Maybe he’s right. I can’t beat you, even when I try cheating with a powerful substance. I’m done.”

  “Listen,” Hú Dié said, “I hardly know you, but I can tell that you’re not the type of person who gives up easily. Forget what he said. I also know a lot about riders, and you’re good. We’ll get your stomach sorted out, and you’ll be winning races, I promise.”

  “You think?” Ryan asked.

  “Definitely,” I said. “My uncle can probably help with your dragon bone situation. My grandfather can help, too, if we can get him some more dragon bone in time.”

  Ryan glanced at the pack on my back. “You have it, don’t you? I was only pretending to be asleep on that metal table in the lab. I heard everything, and I saw some of it, too.” He turned to Hú Dié. “That was great, the way you took out Murphy.”

  Hú Dié grinned. “He had it coming.”

  “Speaking of Murphy,” I said, slowing down. “Look.”

  We reached the spot where Murphy had fallen off his horse. There was some blood on the rock pile, but there was no sign of him or Bones.

  “Keep your eyes peeled,” I said, and we continued on.

  We got to the training facility and saw that, thankfully, Murphy’s truck was gone. We hurried through the open workshop door, past Lin Tan and Bjorn’s pickup, and on to the lab. The lab door was open, and we rushed inside. Ryan went into Dr. V’s office and popped a hidden panel inside a desk drawer.

  “That’s strange,” Ryan said as he flipped the switch to open the gate. “I thought the switch would have already been flipped by Murphy since he is gone—”

  The outer side door to Dr. V’s office suddenly burst open and Murphy strolled in, a different pistol held out in front of him. I rushed for the main lab door and heard claws scrambling down the corridor. Bones was coming from that direction, boxing us in. The dog bared his fangs and leaped at me, and I swung the door with all my might. It latched closed an instant before the animal slammed against it, snarling. Bones began to howl.

  “Now he’s really not going to like you, Phoenix,” Murphy said. “If you behave, I’ll be sure to kill you before I let him rip you to shreds. Go stand in the center of the lab. All of you.”

  Ryan left the office and joined me in the middle of the lab, but Hú Dié didn’t budge from her position near the stainless-steel table.

  Murphy walked out of the office, into the lab. “Move it, Hú Dié,” he said.

  She looked over at me and said, “I’m sorry for the way I treated you.” I saw her eyes turn cold.

  “Hú Dié, no!” I said, but it was too late. She lunged at Murphy’s gun, which was pointed at me.

  Hú Dié gripped the small weapon with her right hand, completely covering the front of the short barrel, and Murphy fired.

  CRACK!

  Hú Dié shrieked and flung her arm aside, tearing the gun from Murphy’s grasp and hurling it across the room. I made a move for it as Murphy reached behind his back and pulled a large hunting knife from a sheath. Hú Dié froze, blood dripping from her hand.

  Murphy glared at her. “You’re hard as nails, young lady,” he said. “I almost feel bad about doing this.” He raised his knife.

  BANG!

  A shot from a larger gun rang out from overhead.

  BANG! BANG!

  All three bullets connected with Murphy. He stumbled forward before collapsing. He wouldn’t be getting back up.

  I looked up to see a blue tarp covering the broken skylight. Lin Tan was peering through a slit in the tarp. He pushed the tarp aside and aimed the pistol at me.

  “Where is it?” he hissed.

  “Where is what?” I replied.

  “You know what. The dragon bone.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

  Sirens began to wail in the distance. Lots of sirens.

  Lin Tan aimed the gun at Ryan. “Get me the keys to your dad’s motorcycle, or you and your friends are dead. Hurry up.”

  Ryan retrieved the keys from Dr. V’s desk and threw them up to Lin Tan. As he caught them, I noticed a large, crude bandage was strapped over his shoulder.

  Lin Tan saw me staring at his wound from Dr. V’s rifle. “It’s not that bad,” he said. “At least I survived, unlike Bjorn. You and I will see each other again, I promise.” He looked at Hú Dié and asked in Chinese, “Gen wo lai?” “Come with me?”

  She shook her head. “Bu yao, xie xie.” “No, thanks.”

  I smiled.

  Lin Tan shrugged and disappeared. A moment later, I heard the motorcycle tear off toward the cyclocross course and, I was guessing, the bean field beyond. Considering the path Dr. V had undoubtedly cut with his SUV, Lin Tan would make it through on that big motorcycle. He would be long gone before we could tell the authorities what had happened.

  I ran over to Hú Dié, and Ryan hurried to close the office door that led outside.

  “I want to keep Bones out,” Ryan explained. “In case he leaves the corridor and comes around to this side of the building.”

  “Good thinking,” I said.

  As the sirens grew closer, I took Hú Dié’s injured hand and we sat down on the floor. Neither of us spoke. There was a lot of blood, and I had to force myself not to retch. From what I could tell, Murphy’s small bullet had passed clean through the webbing between her thumb and index finger, and some skin had been burned by the heat of the barrel. With luck, she would be fine. Her whole body was trembling now, probably from shock.

  Ryan left the office and crossed the lab. He opened a set of blinds. We saw three police cars arrive, along with two ambulances. One of the squad cars drove around back, and a few moments later, Bones began to howl from the corridor. The officers must have come into the facility through the shop because someone shouted, “Secure that dog before we go any farther!”

  I suddenly remembered the dragon bone and scrambled to my feet. I flipped through the cabinets, looking for a place to hide it, and found three large plastic containers of protein powder. I hurriedly dumped the protein powder down a lab sink, then rinsed and dried the containers before refilling them with the dragon bone. I put the containers back into the cabinet and quickly rinsed the empty bag before throwing it
, soaking wet, into the trash bin where I’d dumped the fake dragon bone powder.

  Someone tried turning the knob on the locked lab door, and I ran over to it.

  “Is the coast clear?” I called out.

  “Clear!” was the answer from the other side.

  I slowly opened the door and found two officers standing there. I’d never been so happy to see strangers in all my life.

  “My friend has been shot!” I said. “Please, hurry!”

  I rushed back to Hú Dié. She was still shaking. I leaned close to her and whispered, “You saved my life. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  Her teeth began to chatter and she punched me with her good hand. Hard. “I warned you before—stop saying ‘thank you’ so much!”

  It was difficult, but over the coming days I managed not to give Hú Dié a single thank-you. However, I didn’t hold back with anyone else—from the officers who came to our rescue and added our mostly true statements to their official reports; to the emergency medical technicians who patched up Hú Dié’s hand; to Ryan’s mother, who flew out that day and brought us back to Indiana with the dragon bone on her chartered plane; to my uncle Tí, who was letting me and Hú Dié stay with him, as well as providing Ryan with ongoing treatment to try to sever his connection with dragon bone.

  More than that, Uncle Tí had revived Grandfather.

  I was teaching Grandfather’s tai chi class at the nursing home several days after our return, when my uncle interrupted and told me that Grandfather had regained consciousness. I rushed to his room, leaving Uncle Tí to finish the lesson.

  “Phoenix,” Grandfather whispered in a dry, raspy voice when I entered. “You did it. Xie xie—thank you.”

  I hurried to his side and felt tears begin to pool in the corners of my eyes. This was going to be bittersweet. “Welcome back, Grandfather.”

  He smiled weakly. “I sense you have a lot on your mind.”

  I nodded.

  “What is it?”

  “Everything, I guess. You … Ryan …”

  Grandfather pursed his parched lips. “Your uncle just told me about Ryan’s uncle, Dr. V. He did not survive.”

  “No,” I replied. “His doctors said he lost a tremendous amount of blood, but they couldn’t figure out where it all went.”

  “He was taking dragon bone.”

  “Yes.”

  “Dragon bone does that when its host is near death. That is how it fights to survive.”

  “That’s what Uncle Tí thought, too. We both have a lot of questions about dragon bone, you know.”

  “As do I. It’s a mystery, even to me.”

  “Did Uncle Tí tell you that Ryan has been taking it?”

  “Yes. I am sorry to hear it, and I wish him the best. He has seen far too much death lately. Dragon bone will only compound his troubles.”

  I paused. “You mentioned someone named Ying once. You said he used to mix dragon bone with snake’s blood. Do you think that would help Ryan?”

  “Absolutely not. Ying was reckless. That was his nature. Ryan needs to follow your uncle’s instructions only. He should never mix dragon bone with fresh blood.”

  I nodded. “Who was Ying? I mean, besides your former temple brother who destroyed the place you lived.”

  “That is a long and difficult answer. Ying was very complicated.”

  “What about the Five Ancestors, then? Grandmaster Long said I was among the last of them. He also said your name isn’t really Chénjí Long; it’s Seh—Snake. You were one of the Five Ancestors, weren’t you?”

  Grandfather sighed. “I do not have the strength to go into these things at the moment. I feel myself drifting away as it is. There is something far more pressing to discuss. While I hate to burden you with this now, I need to know if you have spoken with your uncle and PawPaw about the dragon bone plans I made before I slipped into unconsciousness.”

  I lowered my head. “Yes.”

  “And how do you feel about my wishes?”

  “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it.”

  “You are very brave. When will you send the remaining dragon bone to PawPaw and Grandmaster Long?”

  I raised my head. “Next week. I can’t believe you only want to keep ten years’ worth for you. Why so little?”

  Grandfather took a deep breath. “By that time, you will be out of college and more than capable of taking care of yourself. I have given this much thought, and my decision is final. Promise me you will do this.”

  As much as it pained me, I knew I couldn’t refuse. “I promise,” I said, my voice quavering.

  Grandfather nodded and closed his eyes. “Xie xie, Phoenix. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am tiring again, but do not fear, I am growing stronger each day. I should be my old self again in less than a month, for better or worse.”

  “I’ll take whatever I can get,” I said, half smiling, “better or worse. I miss you, Grandfather.”

  “I miss you, too.” He cleared his throat, and his tone became grave. He spoke in a whisper. “I have one other thing I must demand of you.”

  I straightened. “Yes?”

  He smiled weakly. “Enjoy yourself, Phoenix. Life is far too short.”

  The following Saturday, I found myself lined up with twenty other riders across a small, paved parking lot deep inside Indiana’s Brown County State Park. As Grandfather had demanded, I was doing what I enjoyed most.

  It was more than two weeks since the fiasco in Texas, and Hú Dié’s hand was healing well. Uncle Tí was letting her stay for the remainder of her ninety-day travel visa, and once she’d found out that girls race against guys in Indiana, she wasn’t about to let me race alone. Uncle Tí gave her a clean bill of health and even wrapped her hand like a prizefighter for extra protection during the race. We also persuaded Ryan to race, and Jake was already signed up. This was going to be a good one.

  Hú Dié and I were positioned on one end of the starting line, nearest the trailhead. Ryan had picked a spot in the middle, while Jake was on the far end of the line, complaining because he had shown up late and consequently received a lousy starting position. He and I had spoken a few times on the phone, but this was the first time I’d seen him since I’d returned. He kept eyeballing Hú Dié, and I made a mental note to smack him after the race.

  Hú Dié had done a superb job of fixing my bike and modifying it to fit her. She’d done an equally impressive job tweaking one of Ryan’s cyclocross bikes to fit me. Ryan was riding his mountain bike.

  The other riders and even the race officials had questioned my sanity over the decision to ride a cyclocross bike on a mountain bike trail, but I had my reasons. A few of the more uptight kids and their parents went so far as to formally complain because they thought my bike would give me some type of overall advantage, but I argued that while this was called a mountain bike race, it was technically a bike race held on a mountain biking trail. A person could ride whatever kind of bike he or she chose, including the kids who were complaining. People rode mountain bikes in cyclocross races all the time. I was simply doing the opposite. Fortunately, the officials sided with me.

  The race officials took their starting positions, and I glanced over at Ryan slumped atop his mountain bike. He was lined up next to a little kid, and the kid looked nervous. It wasn’t clear if the kid had the jitters because he was racing against much older riders, or if he was worried that Ryan would topple over at any moment and crush him. Ryan looked that bad.

  I felt sorry for Ryan. Hú Dié and I had ridden with him over the past few days to try to help him sweat the dragon bone out of his system, including a ride on this very course. However, he was always fatigued and his condition seemed to be getting worse. My uncle Tí had resorted to giving him a small amount of dragon bone in an effort to wean him from its hold, but even that didn’t seem to be helping. With luck, the adrenaline rush this race would provide might help sever at least some of the connection.

  The starter pistol fired, and
I hammered my feet down onto the pedals of my borrowed ’cross bike. As expected, the cyclocross bike and its large-wheeled road-bike configuration did give me an initial advantage on the smooth pavement. I smoked everyone as I blazed across the parking lot, hitting the narrow trailhead at least fifty feet ahead of my closest competitor, who I wasn’t at all surprised to see was Hú Dié. My lead continued to grow as I rushed along the relatively flat opening stretch, thick stands of tall, leafy brush smacking against my cracked goggles and duct-taped face shield. Man, it felt good to be racing again. I was glad I wasn’t Jake, stuck in the back of the pack and having to battle for every inch to pass a bunch of people.

  I breezed through the first section, and my lead continued to increase as I approached the next section, where the trail began to open up. Massive oak trees grew thirty or more feet apart from one another up and down a series of deep ravines. The trail ran along the edge of a particularly deep one, providing breathtaking views of some of Indiana’s finest scenery. Behind me, Hú Dié gave one of her banshee wails, and I knew she’d reached the first ravine. This section of the trail, called Pine Loop, had that effect on people.

  I continued to hammer along the ravine’s edge, pushing for every extra second I could get. I cruised through multiple switchbacks and over several small hills before I finally reached a steep, silty climb that I knew I would never be able to scale on a ’cross bike. This was where my cyclocross bike advantage ended, but I didn’t care. It was the end of the road for me, anyway. I unclipped my feet and jumped off the bike, hauling it several yards off the trail into a stand of thick ferns and hiding it behind a log.

  A moment later, I heard the hum of tires and the squeal of brakes as Hú Dié slowed to size up the silt-strewn hill.

  “Pssst!” I said. “Hú Dié! Over here!”

  She stopped for a second, removed her old hydration backpack, and tossed it to me as practiced. Then she grinned and turned her attention back to the hill. I expected her to shoulder her bike and run up the slope, but instead she switched to her granny gear and blasted forward, creeping up the hill as her rear tire sent a plume of chalky soil twenty yards behind her. It was slow going for her, but riding up the hill would ultimately be faster than running up it and taking the time to clip back into her pedals at the top. Also, whoever happened to be coming up behind her would have to wait until she crested the rise before attempting the climb themselves, unless they felt like being the recipient of a Category 5 dirt shower.